Process and apparatus for tumbling



Feb. 19, 1929.

' S. BARBER PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TUMBLING 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 24, 1924 2 9 5 .H nl.. M qw 7 S nl ATv 1 e e h S 5 G N T. .L B M w M m9 RF1 ES.. U4 mm2 AR@ A BPe MD d SD@ l N.1 AF S S E C 0 R P.

MOM

Feb. '19, 1929.

Feb. 19, 1929.

s. BARBER PROCESS AND APPARTUS FOR TUMBLING Filed Dec. 24, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet l IJ,

ANN\

, Patente-cl4 Feb.' 19, `1929.

SHERMAN BARBER, F PARK, ILLIN'OIS.

PB'OCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TUMBLING. i

Application nled'necember -24., 1924. serial/ivo. 757,920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' 1o tumbling action to remove burrs or uncut,

rough or sharp edges. The invention ischaracterized by the fact that it can be operated either as a hatch or as a continuous process,

depending upon the character of the materials worked upon and the speed with which it is e necessary. to agitate them.

Briefly describing the fundamental features of the present invention, there is provided a tumbling barrel, having on one end thereof a hopper and on the other an integrally connected screen. This tumbler is supported on a-pivotally mounted structure and by means of a tilting mechanism can be tilted to any desired angle from the horizontal both upward and downward. Material is adapted to be introduced into the hopper either continuously or in batches, and said vtumbler is adapted to be rotate'di- The interior of the tumbler is. preferably'p'rovided with a plurality of longitudinally extending angle irons attached to lthe interior of the shell Jfunctioning to carry the material upwardly for a distance, say just beyond a quarter rotation,

after 'which the materials will Ntall by the force of. gravity to the bottom of the tumbler,

lthis operation being continuously repeated during the rotation of the tumbler.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the tumbler illustrating one method of intrbducing materials to the hopper. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the tumbler, illustrating two'positions of tilting "from the horizontal. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view taken on lines 3--3 of Fig 4. Fig. 4 is across sectional view taken on lines 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 1 designates as a whole a tumbler, which may comprise an elongated, cylindrical solid metal 5o drum, whichfis rovided exteriorly adjacent both ends with t e circumferentially extending bands or guides 2and 3,'the` arrangement belng such that there are a set of twoof each e wheel 32'and also a sprocket 33 adapted to of these bands adjacent each end of the'tumbler 1. The bands 2 form a track for,

the rollers 4 and 5, which are anchored by means of the pins 6 in the brackets 7. These brackets are fixedly mounted on the supportulg structure 8, which in the present instance takes the formfof longitudinally extending channel irons beneath the tumbling drum 1. Substantially centrally of their lengtlnthe channel'irons are provided with a bracket 9, in which is mounted the shaft 10. Below the bracket 9 is a similar bracket 1l fixedly attached to the base 12 of the supporting structure by the bolts 13 or any other suitable form of securing members. In the present instance, the supportin base 12 takes the `form of channel irons simi ar to the channel irons 8, said base 12 adapted to be supported or rest upon the floor 14.

Adjacent the receiving end of the tumbler, the channel iron 8 is provided with the bracket 15 interiorly screw-threaded to register with the screw threads 16 of the stem .17, which is provided at its upper end with the handle 18. The screw 17 is the. mechanism utilized for tilting the tumbler, the operation of which will be hereinafter described. The tumbler 1 is provided at its discharge end with thev perforated cylindrical extension 19, which preferably takes the form of a metal screen of suitable mesh, said screen being provided at its outer end with the retaining band 20. Adjacent the receiving end, the tumbler is provided with the hopper 21` supported by the upwardly extending bracket 22, which latter is secured bymeans of bolts, rivets, etc. 23 to the supporting channel iron 8.

Adjacent the receiving end and extending circumferentially around the periphery of the tumbling drum l is an enlarged gear 24 ada ted ,to mesh with apinion 25 mounted on shaii26. Also 'keyed to this shaft is av bevel gear 27 adapted tof mesh with a similar bevel gear 28 mounted on sha-ft 29. This shaft is provided with a suitable journal 30 ixedly connected to the cross piece 31, which cross piece `-31 extends transversely of the tumbler and substantially midway of its length. There are provided similar cross braces 31 at each end below the drum on which the brackets 7 supporting-'the rollers are mounted.

Preferably, the discharge throat of the hopper extends partly into the interior of the tumbln drum, as shownplearly in Fig. 3.

'The s aft 29l has keyed thereto a 'pulley drive sprocket chain Extending longitudinally within and attached to the interior surface of the tumbling drum 1 by means of rivets, boltsor other suit# able devices are the angle irons 36. In the present instance, (see Fig. 4) four of these angle irons areshown distributed uniformly about the interior surface of the drum. The tilting screw 17 must of necessity be provided with'compensating swivel mechanism for the purpose of preventing binding when the tumbler is tilted upwardly or downwardly. The bracket v15 is internally screw-threaded and on one exterior face thereof is provided with the small trunnion 37 adapted to register with the recessed plate 38 fastened to the channel iron 8 by means of rivets, bolts, etc. 39. The function of the arrangement just describedv is to coinpensate for the change of radius of the tumbler as it is tilted from the horizontal, the bracket or nut ladjustingl itself very readily. The lower extremity of the screw 17 is anchored in the plate 40, secured by rivets, bolts, etc. 41 to the base'12, it being understood that the screw 17 is capable of free rotation therein.

The shaft 26 is provided with suitable ournals 42 and 43. V

Describing now a batch operation, assume that the interior of thetumbler 1 has been cleaned vand all foreign matter from aprevious operation discharged. The tumbler is then tilted at a desired angle upwardly from the horizontal in order' that the receiving or hopper end of the tumbler is on a lower plane than the discharge end. A: re-determined amount of material to be ,woied' upon may be introduced into the hopper'21, which material may for instance be metal stampings,

having rough or sharp, badly cut edges ex- /hibiting burrs, which may or may not contain a coating of lubricant, the use. of which is ,Well known in stampingy operations, or small castings witli sand particles imbedded into the ysurface thereof, mixed with a suitable abrasive orabsorbent compound or niaterial, such as saw-dust, brick-dust, carbo- After a pre-deterinterior, the pulle wheel 32 is rotated for 'i11- stance by a otor aving a connecting. pulley belt, which rotates the shaft 29 and bevel ygear 28, transmitting rotation to the bevel .gear 27, shaft 26, pinion' 25and circumferrotation ofthe umbler can bere desired. After a brief period o rotation, during which time the screen end of thetumbler is elevated upwardl on an an le from the' horizontal, it ma beadvisab e to introduce an additionalY charge of materials which are to be worked upon.' .The rotation 1s then continued for a re-d'etermined time, for instance twelve to'7 en minutes, after., lwhich,while the tumbler is still rotating, the4 entially extend' g gear Thepeed of ated as` tilting screw 17 is rotated to lower the screen end of the tumbler below the horizontal to cause a discharge thereof from the screen end. The particles of the abrasive or absorbent compound, as well as' the minute particles of scale vand imperfectly-formed, undersized slugs of material, .will drop through the meshes of the screen, thereby automatically separating from the perfect pieces of metal. These erfect pieces of metal are then discharged at the extreme discharge end ofv the screen, which of course is open, and may be collected in any suitable form of collecting means. During the rotation ot' the tumbler, the angle irons 36 have served to carry the material up to a point where it drops olf,

thus resulting in a pronounced agitation.

Describi now a continuous operation', the materials tldgbe worked upon, mixed with the abrasive orrabsorbent compound, are dumped into a pit 44, from which they are carried upwardly in the buckets 45 attached to the traveling conveyor 46, which may take the form of a series of flat connected links riding over the hexagonal drum 47 mounted on shaft 48. Keyed on theshaft 48, for instance intermediate its length or externally of the drum 47, is a sprocket wheel 49 adapted to mesh with the sprocket chain 34, which receives its rotating motion from the shaft 29`and -sprocket 33, as heretofore described'. 'The entire endless conveyor may be supported in the igiiight support 50, which itself is sup-.' Por on the channel iron 1 2, The endless conveyor itself is of standard construction and requires no further detailed explanation,

as the particular constructionI of conveyor forms no part of the present invention. 'The buckets 45 discharge continuously into the hopper 21 and thence into the interior of the drum l,- said drum being continuously ro-. Atated. The angle of inclination of the screen ,end ofthe drum 1 during a continuous operation is usually slightly above the horizontal, but not at enough of an angle to interfere with the continuous introduction of the maiiov terial to be worked upon. The finished ma-v i -terial will gradually work toward the discharge end of the tumbler and b'e' discharged and `separated automatic-ally in the same way as in `abatch operation.'

. The process and apparatus-involved in the -present invention is very flexible in operation and the angle'of inclination L.may be readily I' adjusted to treat materials which require very little working, as well as materials whichre- @nire extensive treating, and including the entire range between the two. In o eration,

the invention has. beeii'found to pr uce very satisfactory results, and the automatic se a# ration of the finished product from imper ect asl been found very practical.

arts and absorbent and abrasive material -desirable to Y example, sorting, the screen 1 9 may berela.-

tively longer than the tumbler'for` the purpose-of automatic separation.

I claim as my invention: f

1. .In an apparatus for tumbling articles, the' combination with a, rotatable tumbling drum having charging inlet, of a screen lix'edly connected to the discharge end of said.A

drum,..means --orrotating said drum and screen as a unit, a movable, pivotally mounted support or.the-drum, mounted on a stationary support, and means for tilting said pivotally mounted support to tilt the drum,

and preventing accidental able support, of a material charging and discharging means connected vtolsaid tumbling means, means for tilting the tiltable support f tol any an means to feed the material to be treated gle above or below 4the horizontal, said tumb ing means andcharging and discharging means tilting with sald support as a supply means, a pivot support on the base, a frame pivotall' mounted on the support, a tumbler rotatab y mounted on the frame, a

. a unit, and means'for rotating said-drum and I discharge means as "a unit. v' 3. In an apparatus fortumbling articles,

a foundation vstructure including a base and 30 separating screen xed on the discharge end .a

of said tumbler, a hopper fixed on the frame land continuously projecting into the receiving end of the tumbler, means for `pivoting the frame, a perpendicular su port on the base, a charging conveyor on saidp'erpendicular ysupport and dipping into-the su ply said means to the tumbler, and means for driving said tumbler and charging conveyor simultaneously.

BARBER. 

